Dangerous Intentions
by fantasy-elf
Summary: He saved her, drawn by her innocence and fiery spirit. Others fear him, sensing that he is dangerous - a killer - but for Madeleine he is her only escape, her salvation. SweeneyxOC
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

"After her damn it! Close her off at the alley, do not let her escape!"

Her soft slippered padded lightly across the cobblestone path as she ran. Her leg muscles working double time to pick up the speed she needed to escape her assailants, her breath coming in dangerous pants as she forced herself on through the fog of the night. London was covered in it. The dense mist covered most of the streets, allowing her an advantage to hide. The dank, musty streets filled with pollution and filth at every turn. Rain poured against her in buckets soaking her once elegant gown; in a way thankful for the mud that covered her soaked form and allowed her to blend in with the rest of the city and its people. Yet in reality, she though nothing of it. All she worried about was getting away from_ him_.

Madeleine stopped for a moment, leaning a slender hand against a cool moss covered building. Taking a deep cleansing breath, ready for the next chase to begin. They were not that far behind her - maybe but a corner away from her chosen alley to hide in. She tried to even her breathing, her lungs straining achingly against the tight whalebone corset that seemed to do nothing but crush her ribs and diaphragm. Berating herself for not thinking of taking it off before she left. She hated the damn things.

A voice shattered the momentarily peaceful moment - "Split up! Don' let her get away! She's got to be hear somewhere."

With a quick turn of her head, Madeleine's gaze scanned the way she came warily for any shadow or shape in the fog. They were close now, very close. She turned back, only this time starting her run gait toward the main streets of London. Fleet street to be exact. Her long fiery hair fluttered in the wind behind her as she ran, a few wet strands plastered against her rosy cheeks. Had it of been another other circumstance she would have fussed and fumbled about to make it immaculate, but at the given moment she did not give a damn. She was tired of being his doll, his plaything.

The awkward stumble of footsteps behind her made her turn a swift corner. Fleet street was straight in front of her. Surely he would not follow and give chase in a main street where people would see. To the others passing by she probably looked like nothing but a beggar woman or a prostitute. No one would bother her here. She had her chance; and she was taking it.

_But where will you go?_ The thought crossed her mind quickly. True, she had no where to go, but anywhere was better than back at the manor.

"Ah, there you are, my little Fraulein." A voice echoed from behind her, and before she could take off again a large hand clamp viciously around her arm, pulling her swiftly back into the alley and against the wall.

Icy eyes glared into her own, a triumphant smirk growing across the smooth angles of the mans face. Lord Gerard DuPont, one of the most wealthiest Lords in the whole of England. He was attractive in looks, Madeleine had to admit it, form his snugly fit tailor suits to his golden walking cane to the soft glint of the light in his golden hair. But his dominant manner and cruel demeanour were ones not even the devil himself could obtain. He was in all words a monster of man. Crude, malicious, arrogant, self-centred and down right deceitful.

"Well, Well, it seems to me like the game is over now, my pet." He hissed arrogantly against her ear, his heated breath nearly causing her to gag in her throat. His fist still clenched against her naked arm, she knew bruises would form there by tomorrow. His other hand rose slowly toward her face and Madeleine flinched back expecting a blow to the face. But none came. "No, no. My little kitten. Do not shun your lover, I will not harm you." His voice took on an almost fatherly tone, like one trying to softly discipline a child. What a lair he was.

His fingers, gloved by the finest white leather, stroked against the cool expanse of her cheekbone. He shifted a clump of hair away form her face, only to reveal a small swell at the side of her temple. The result of her last escape attempt. The blueish circle surrounding was tender to touch as he pressed a digit against it. Madeleine flinched but would not give the pleasure of crying out in pain. "Oh?, now how did you get such a nasty bruise. Come let us go home and sort it out..."

It was a nice try, but Madeleine was having none of it. Even as he turned and tried to drag her back toward the way she had came, she lifted her hand and without a seconds thought scratched at his eyes with hand. Four thin wells rose to the surface of his skin and ripped lightly with crimson. His face a mask of fury as he went at her, his hand flying backwards to her face yet again. Madeleine cried out this time as her head crashed to the side with a resounding snap.

But that did not stop her. _I have come to far to give up now. _Biting her lip from the pain she went at him again. This time her slender fingers digging right into the grove of his eyes, rendering him blind for a few seconds. But it was enough for her. Her leg rose up and her knee connected with his groin. Knocking the wind from him as he slumped to the stone floor.

"You bitch." He howled at her, or rather tried but seeing as she hit him somewhere 'delicate', the sound was more of a strangled gasp.

Taking her chance, Madeleine ran for it again. Her feet pounding as she went. Her tired body, her weary head, her dishevelled appearance... none of it mattered. She just ran.

Out she sprang into the next alley and down out into the main junction of Fleet street. Once there she did not slow her pace. Dare not. He would come after her now, she was sure of it, and soon. But where could she hide?

Her wide gaze darted this way and that nervously about the darkened street. A few men at the nearby inn stopped and looked at her, mumbling something and laughing amongst themselves. The sudden clicking of swift footsteps behind her set her of again at a sprint, nearly tripping over her worn muddied gown in her haste.

The steps followed with her and even gained a pace that would catch her within seconds. She needed to hide, and quick!

Madeleine's gaze settled on a bookstore. 'The shop dreams' it was called and a place she liked to visit often, when she was allowed. Crammed with books of all types and sorts that kept her entertained for hours in her dreary, overruled home. She though about hiding in there but thought better of it seeing as _he_ would think to look for her in there. _The Inn?_ No. _The blacksmiths?_ No._ The grocery store?_ No.

_The Bakers? _Her head snapped toward the shop, 'Mrs Lovett's pie shop'. Mrs Lovett made the worst pie's in London apparently though she had never had the chance to meet her in person.

Without another word she took a swift turn into another alley and followed it all the way around. Hoping to fool her attacker into losing his way in the labyrinth that was London. All the way she went until she ended up back to the exact same spot. Standing right next to pie shop again. He would soon catch up with her again.

Swiftly she lifted her skirt a little to give her leg room and ran straight for the shop. Not 'into' the shop itself, but up a set of stairs that led up into the top section of the building. Slowly she padded upwards, hoping her slippers made no sound as she ascended the metal steps. Once reaching the top she quietly opened the one door at the top with a soft click and shimmied her way into the building. Just as quietly shutting it behind her.

The familiar clanging of footsteps slowly approaching the shop made her duck quickly and search for a hiding place. Hoping that he would never find her...

* * *

They day had been a long one, too long if you asked him. Enough was enough for one day. Calm, calculating but wearily he trudged up into his home above the pie shop. His only friend and landlady, Mrs Lovette retired back into the main shop for the night. She was the Best thing that happened to him since these past few years. But for him, sleep was going to be hard to find as it was every other night. His mind was whirling, with feeling, with hatred; though he kept his face passive and expressionless. His old tailored jacket fit snugly against him as he regally ascended to his home. Its was worn and brought back many memories, yet he could not find it in himself to throw it away. Lucy had loved the jacket; had said he looked handsome in it.

Benjamin Barker, No... Sweeney Todd snorted sardonically to himself.

"Theres a whole in the world like a great black pit, and its filled with people who are filled with shit, and the vermin of the world inhabit it." He hissed menacingly to himself, his steps becoming more alive and filled with determination as he entered his abode. His hell, and there would be hell to pay for. Without a word or bothering to close the door he strode over to his dressing table and reached forth to grab one of his knives from its decorative velvet casing. Flicking it out with an elegant twist of his wrist. The light glinting against the cold steel enticingly.

"Rest now my friends, soon I'll unfold you. Soon you'll know splendours you never dreamt. My friends." His soft, an almost adoring whisper as he continued to catch the moonlight at all angles across the blade. The soft light reflecting back at him, dazzling him with some unseen magic.

But then he saw it. A shadow by the large wooden chest by the doorway, hovering silently in a solid shape beside the oak dresser. Reflecting across the blade, breaking the enchantment of the moment.

Slowly, almost as though mocking his silent visitor, he turned to face them. A small smirk growing with intensity across his pale face. His nimble fingers gripping the blade in his hand so tightly his knuckles went pure white.

_Maybe you wont have to wait so long after all, my friends. Now, you shall drip rubies._


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

_What this?_ His mind wandered as his dark gaze glared at the cowering figure crouched beside the oak dresser, the shadows and already drawn in night made it difficult at first to get a good look at them. He stepped forward for closer inspection. A startled shuffle coming from the shape in the shadow as his eyes penetrated the darkness for his victim. And what he saw was not what he expected...

_A girl? _No older than twenty winters it seemed was leaning against wall. Her slender body trembling beneath the sodden green gown that clung to her every limb and curve. One small but elegant hand gripped to the wood at her side to the point where her knuckles looked white in the moonlight. Wide crystalline emeralds stared back at him in almost terrified awe, never once daring to blink in fear of an attack of sorts.

Anger polluted him like the sewers of London itself. The familiar bubbles of heat, boiled and brewed in his veins. The vice like grip around his trusted blade seemed to tighten somewhat if possible. The rain outside pounded heavily, the only sound echoing around the empty room; its fierce thrashing against the windowpane only made the already tense atmosphere throb and thicken with an unknown intensity...

* * *

"What are you doing here?" He asked, no demanded. His voice calm and yet menacingly deep and rough like the soft rumble of thunder before the storm. His face a pale emotionless mask of indifference. While his eyes were dark pits of hell - blacker than black - with not even a flicker of light daring to reflect in their empty depths. Madeleine could do nothing but remain stock still as his gaze paralysed her and sliced through the very core of her being, like the sting of a spiders venom before it wraps its prey deep within its silky webs. 

Such a frightening man he was; this man whom seemed more demon than anything warm-blooded on this earth.

His hair was wild, there was no other word Madeleine could think to describe it. Wild and untamed. Nestled just to the nape of his slender pale neck. Its silky raven colour glinted in the moonlight sending blue streaks through it like lighting bolts. What shocked Madeleine the most was the shock of white hair that ran across one section of his head, a pure white that sliced across the blackness in an elegant fashion.

Madeleine's eyes wandered further, hardly recognising the mans words he had spoken. His tall and almost thin frame looked almost too fragile to touch, but by the look of the blade in his hands, she knew better. The attire he wore was not fancy, not special, nor looked costly. But they were elegant against his slim form. The white shirt was crisp and clean to perfection. The dark trousers and black waistcoat only made his onyx eyes glint more dangerously from their sockets.

She swallowed hard. The steel of the blade glinted and flashed within the dimly lit room. Her only source of true light and yet it frightened her the most.

"I said, What are you doing here?" He repeated, his voice taking on a slightly venomous edge when she did not answer.

Another flash from the steel razor made her mouth move, suddenly gone dry, her own voice edged with fear.

" I..." Was all she could manage.

An emotion crossed his somber face and he took a graceful step forward. His patience starting to wear even thinner when she scuttled back wards further into the wall.

"I..." Her eyes wide and glassy to the point of pure terror. Blood rushed and pounded heavily beneath cold, clammy flesh. _Good god, he's going to kill me. _

Just then, as he started to slowly take another step forward, the door burst open with a resounding clang against its hinges. A tall foreboding shadow filled the door frame. The familiar shape took form as it stepped into the dim room. The person never once noticing the trembling figure by the large chest of drawers.

_He's here._

Lord Gerard Dupont. His once neat blond lock now looked darkened from the rain and tussled from run. His breath in heavy pants as he took in the barbers appearance, his eyes wide and his brow furrowed in confusion... and doubt?

"Ah," He panted one last time, his back straightening to address the man in a civilised fashion. " Forgive me, I did not mean to intrude. I am looking for a woman, did she happen to pass this way."

For one fleet of a second, Madeleine thought she saw the barbers dark glare flash in her direction. She could do nothing but hold her breath and lean further back the shadows, praying this strange, frightening man would have mercy on her.

"A woman?" The Barber replied coldly, "Yes I have seen a woman pass by here today,"A slender hand rising to clasp against her mouth as whimper arose to the surface from her constricting throat. Her eyes squinted shut fiercely. Her vision blurring as she silently begged the stranger to remained silent. _Please, don't tell him. I beg you. Please, don't make me go back with him. _"But then who hasn't... London is filled with them."

The other laughed uneasily, his gloved hand lifting to wipe the dust and wet patches from the expanse of his tailored jacket.

"Ah well, she is a young, pretty little thing. Red hair perhaps? Green dress? No?"

The barber paused for a moment... and then shook his head nonchalantly. " I'm sorry, I haven't seen anyone by that description." And with that he turned and began to rustle through some things on his dresser opposite Madeleine. His dark gaze slowly met hers in the mirror as he began to put the razor in a small velvet box. Her breath caught in her throat...

" Very well, I will 'bother' you no more. Thank you for your... help... Good day, sir!" Gerard huffed snobbishly at the other mans rudeness and turned with a swift click of heels and out of the door. His resounding steps clicking down stairs gave way into a deadly silence yet again. Until there was nothing but the two of them remaining.

Neither spoke for what seemed like hours. Their eyes, both light and dark, clashed and melted with others in the mirrors reflection.

It was Madeleine whom made the first move. Taking a much needed breath she straightened and stepped from the shadows. Each step cautious and light as she moved closer to man before the mirror, stopping at a safe distance. Her throat constricted as she swallowed away the dryness. Her foot shuffled awkwardly against the wooden flooring, her eyes darting about - never fully focusing on one object, until finally they slowly landing back onto his.

Its was too much for her. The whole encounter. The Lord unrelenting pursuit. The barber who looked at her as if he wanted to slit her throat with a razor.

" Thank you." Was all she said and needed to say as she started turned to wards the door. Her freedom. What else could she say to him?

He said nothing: just continued to let his gaze bore into her.

Trying to think nothing of it, she continued to turn cautiously and made her way to wards the door. Her fingertips barely brushing the cool handle before his voice echoed from behind her.

" Wait."

She stopped but did not turn back. She heard the barbers shoes scuffed against the floorboards as he moved to wards her. Each step seemed slow and deliberate and yet natural. His slender dark figure finally filled her vision, standing between her and the door. Her head rising to meet his eyes with her own. A frown furrowing against a finely arched brow.

" What is your name?" He asked.

_What is it to you? _Is what she wanted to say but dare not. Not knowing how he would react. Lord Dupont always told her that passion was not to be found in a woman unless it was in the bed chamber. _How wrong he was. _At the thought of allowing this man - or any other man for that matter - to intimidate her made her blood boil somewhat. Swallowing her fear, she lifted her head with a small jut of her chin and met his empty gaze with one of her own.

" Madeleine. Madeleine..." she paused for a moment. " ...Langworth."

More silence.

" And, what name may I call you?" She asked carefully.

" What is it to you?" He replied coldly.

_Oh, the irony, _A voice hissed in her mind sarcastically. " Well, I... You asked for my name and I gave it to you. Though you have yet to tell me yours. Its called 'manners'." Maddy retaliated just as calmly before she could stop the words from flying out her mouth. She took a step away from him, realising her mistake when he glowered at her. His thick brows bunching together in a hateful manner.

" Manners, Madam? And pray tell what manners do you have to sneak into someone else's property." He took a menacing step to wards her and she in turn moved back. One step, then two, then three... "Did you not even consider that somebody else would be here. Did you not even consider the punishment upon such a crime."

_Punishment? _Her heart stopped at his words and when her back hit something solid, preventing her from further escape. His eyes... Good god - he looked ready to kill. " Punishment?" Her voice a mere whisper when he stopped nought but a step away. His tall form easily towering over her own to the point where she had to strain her head back to keep eye contact.

" Yes, Punishment." He eyes gleamed suddenly, a murderous flash in his dark eyes that made Madeleine's heart skip a beat. His next words made her blood chill over like ice upon a lake. " I should give you over to the law. They'd probably give you a sentence and send you away for a few years. Your freedom would be lost. Maybe your 'lover' might come to your rescue and take you away again; which by the look on your face doesn't seem like a romantic notion for you."

A strangled whimper escaped her and before she could stop herself her hand shot out and gripped the low collar of his waistcoat, the black material bunching in her small digits. He looked down nonchalantly at her hold and then back up again, one corner of his mouth quirking slightly against the pale expanse of his weary face.

" Please." She whispered, not daring to meet his gaze. Her grip still tight against his torso. " You can not. You must not..."

" Oh? and why not. I have every right to."

" I... He.. No. I do not want to go back to him. Please, don't make me go back." Madeleine felt and rather heard her own voice crack and waver.

" Let go." He demanded nastily. She instantly let go of the thick material in defeat. " Do you dislike your lover so much?"

" He. is. not. my. Lover!" she burst out suddenly, anger rising to the surface once again over reason. " And yes, I dislike him. In fact... I hate him with every fibre of my being."

" Thats not my problem."

She looked up at him suddenly. Her eyes glittering just as dangerously as his and for a moment she thought she saw his head shift back wards and his eyes widen a little in surprise. " What do you know?! I bet you don't even understand the meaning of hate! or freedom for that matter; to loath someone so intensely that the very sight of them makes you sick. The very sound of their voice making you want to strangle them into silence because with a single syllable from their lips they can bend you to their every whim and wish. Do not speak to me about freedom when you do not know what it is like to be a prisoner!"

A flash followed merely seconds after the last word was spoken. A deathly slice in the air, followed by the heat of a body pressed against her own, pressing her into the wall. Cool steel pressed dangerously close to the soft flesh of her throat as her blood pounded unmercifully. Her staggering gasps the only sound that followed and echoed about the empty and suddenly chilled room.

" HATE! FREEDOM!" He spat at her, digging the razor in. " You dare to lecture me with your pitiful morals, woman. Its is you who doesn't understand. To be imprisoned into a living hell. To be locked away in the darkness, never knowing if the world even noticed you existed any more. Dreaming of freedom and things that can never be achieved!"

His face was twisted beyond recognition. In all honesty, when Madeleine had first met the strange barber she had found him handsome, even attractive in a dark, brooding way. But now, he wore a mask of a demon from hell itself. This time it was the sound of his harsh breathing that overpowered her own. A death like grip about her shoulder as he had her pinned to the wall, blade at her vulnerable neck. A whimper escaped her as he dug the razor in further, a thin line of wetness seeping through her flesh.

Just a loud bustle came from the doorway followed by footsteps entering the room. A voice, accented but soft and feminine called form the now open doorway...

" Mr T, What are ya doing?!"


End file.
